Obamacare Hack

I just wanted to let people know about this as it is somewhat time sensitive. If you are healthy and self insured AND make too much money to get a subsidy, you probably saw a rate hike on exchange policies. Mine went from $125 or so to over $300 with a $1750 increase in deductible/out of pocket. The only difference is that my current policy excludes maternity, but otherwise it is the same policy in terms of coverage and free wellness care.

LOL, so Obamacare made my coverage LESS affordable, IMO unacceptable.

I called my current insurer and what they are doing for me is cancelling my existing policy on November 30, 2013 and starting a new policy on December 1, 2013. My plan will be what I have today- $5000 deductible/$125 premium. My existing policy expires December 31, 2013 and as of January 1, 2014 they are not able to sell me this policy anymore. However, they can sell it to me in 2013 with a 12 month commitment (so the policy is valid/legal etc. they just can not sell it to me in 2014 because it will be against the law).

So, if you are taking a hit on the exchange, this is something you can look into and it will at least save you money for a year.

I'm very disappointed that our President lied about "keeping insurance you are happy with". I was very happy NOT paying for maternity coverage I did not need, which according to my insurer is a big reason behind my price jump.

I hope this helps someone else out. I for one was relieved when I knew I could wait a year for having to find an extra $200 a month in my budget for something I do not use.

I find it humorous that people are surprised by this. They were warned how it would work and how it would increase rates and possibly decrease coverage or jobs that offer it, yet they were in denial about it as though it was something completely different than what it is. I guess that's because no one, including Congress, read it before it became law. This is a 100% fascist policy that was created with the sole purpose of benefiting insurers. It has absolutely nothing to do with extending coverage to those without, which might happen but not without many losing benefits or paying higher fees in exchange.

Explained to the navigator that came to my office that I have no intention of buying insurance through the exchange, for myself or my employees. I explained that the fine was much less than the extortionate cost of covering some of my employees (my rock solid office manager has MS), and we would be opting out as a business.

I then explained that I will be providing all of their medical care for free, with a portion of everyone's payroll going into an emergency fund as well as for prescriptions. Again, this amount is far less than the insurance, considering I can use my DEA license to order from Canada to get generics the fascists ensured I could not buy here. (for my MS employee this saves, I counted it up, 97% from her American drugs that are exactly the same. Read that again.)

For emergencies if they occur, I will be negotiating with the hospital myself to get the lowest possible cash amounts. It is common to get a 70% discount if you offer to pay them in cash, which will be taken from our emergency fund.

I will be putting in 200k into this fund, to start on Jan 1st. This will be covering all 16 of my employees, including part-timers, for the year. It will be getting added to by the employees themselves from their share of the practice (they are not strictly employees. They each OWN a portion of the business themselves). At the end of the year, for a Christmas bonus, I will divvy up whatever is not used that I took for the emergency fund as a bonus.

The amount of money the fine would need to be is astronomical to be cheaper and more effective than this option. I am curious to see how long I can do it before I get a government suit/jackboots at my door to force me to join. I give it 3 years.

Thanks for letting us know. I got that shaft also but for me it was with the deductible. I currently have a $2500 deductible 80/20 plan that runs me $389 a month. The closest equivalent is a bronze level with a $6350 deductible 60/40 policy for $381 a month. Again, not "affordable" when my out of pocket goes up by $4K a year - $4K a year that I don't have.

Thanks for the tip, magnolia! I'm going to call my insurer on Monday to see if I can get a similar deal.

jammies--I believe that the ACA requires all insurance policies (for women) to include maternity. Apparently, it's because some people can't read and don't realize that their policy excludes maternity. I suppose some other people may get knocked up when they didn't plan to.

Sounds like some of you have some great ideas. My husband and I are both self employed and the ACA has absolutely screwed us, as what we had is no longer available under this delightful system. I have to meet with the insurer who handles us through our chamber of commerce, as the last time I talked to them, they had no idea what they would be offering.
Best to all of you.